Mark’s eyes slammed open as he felt someone looking at him.

  Isoko was awake and propped up on an elbow, looking at him from across the pillows. She smirked.

  Isoko said, “Villain.”

  Mark breathed deep, groaning a little and then he stared at the ceiling.

  “Morning, Isoko.”

  Isoko chuckled.

  Mark was still in the bed that Blackthorn had set up for him, in a room of the same, in the archmage’s tower. Isoko was still laying on the other side of the bed and Sally was over there, past Mark’s black-silk-covered feet, snoozing on a big mattress that Eliot had made. And over there was Eliot, sleeping just fine, too.

  All around Mark, people were mostly asleep… No. Wait. Two… No three? Yes, three people were fucking in that room down the hall, while another watched… or something like that. Blackthorn was… in the living room? Maybe.

  Very soft music thrummed somewhere in the distance, beyond the walls, and if the sun was up then the false-windows to the sides of the room did not show that. The screens showed cloudy, Earth skies, heavily overcast and prepped for snowing all day long. Mark guessed it was maybe 7 or 8 am, or something like that.

  Quark briefly returned to this place, his eyestalks poking up out of Mark’s helmet, which was sitting on the dresser to the side. And then he went back to doing something else, elsewhere. The room was quiet and warm, and everything was soft, except for Quark.

  Mark was awake but he almost wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe if he closed his eyes the events of the day wouldn’t happen.

  But Isoko was fully awake, and she had something to say about Mark trying to go back to bed.

  Isoko leaned in on the pillows separating them, smirking as she whispered/mocked, “What are we gonna do today, boss?”

  A memory from ten years ago surfaced. A memory of Saturday morning cartoons, of heroes and villains, broadcast as part of Crystal Tower’s Public Broadcasting Studio and translated into many different languages across the world.

  Mark grinned, and finished the line, “We’re going to take over the world, henchman.”

  Isoko’s face lit up in the dim light of the room, her mouth turning into the most wonderful grin as she leaned back and laughed and giggled and then she woke up Sally—

  “What!” Sally exclaimed, followed by a much more sleepy, “What’s…” Sally gratefully collapsed back down, closing her eyes as she asked, “What’s happening?”

  No one was able to answer, because Sally’s vector did a sudden jolt and spasm and Sally’s eyes slammed open. She feared, and that fear roiled, and then the fear was replaced with caution. Sally sat up and looked over at Mark and Isoko, then over to Eliot, who was still sleeping.

  Sally went, “Ah. Not a nightmare. We really are in the belly of the beast.”

  Isoko smiled and giggled again, and then she leapt out of bed, sending out a pulse of Union to Eliot and the rest of them, and Eliot jolted awake, too. Isoko said, “We are here! In the belly of the beast!” She exclaimed, “And there is no better place to commit villainy!”

  Eliot groaned, “Why are you so happy about this?”

  Sally mirrored him, saying, “We’re in a lot of danger right now and—” She glared at Mark and she was probably angry again about yesterday, as she said, “And what the FUCK?” She digressed, “So we’re all together and I don’t trust those other people to do right by us and you, but…” She lost the thread of her thoughts. She settled on, “I’m very angry that this happened.”

  “Oh sure,” Isoko said, “Totally get that. But what choice did we have? Let ourselves get caught? No way! And since we managed to have several hours of sleep, that means that Blackthorn is an ally, at least for now. Or he’s a plant. I doubt that, though, and this is why: The Collective, at least, won’t work with an archmage like this in order to cause an effect. They police archmages. They don’t work with them outside of kaiju fights.”

  Eliot countered, “But this is a kaiju fight, Isoko. Everything is a kaiju fight from here on for the rest of our lives. That’s who Mark wants to be. That’s what I need to defend cities against.”

  “Well I don’t believe that,” Isoko said, “Because you’re using the word to mean the feeling of a kaiju fight and I’m saying ‘actual kaiju fights’. Outside of helping an archmage kill a kaiju, the Collective would not work with them. Blackthorn is a variable they didn’t want happening. More realistically, the situation is… Well. I’ll hold on.” Isoko asked everyone, “Who do you think are the main players in this storm, what do they want, and how are they related?”

  Eliot rubbed his face, working himself up to something… and then he stood up and breathed deep. A nearby nice metal desk lamp reorganized itself into a light projector. Holograms appeared in the air, dancing to the tune Eliot demanded of them.

  Eliot began, “We have Memphi, which belongs to the Central Cities, which is historically allied with the Californian city states and the East Coast Union. In a further sort of way they’re allied with Aluatha as well, since Aluatha is down on Daihoon-side Mexico. That said, Memphi, and Mayor Emilia Ramirez, are probably only beholden to the people here, in this city, and the people here love her a lot. She’s been the rightfully elected mayor of Memphi for the last 60 years.

  “Blackthorn has been here for that long, too, but he’s an archmage, and they always have their own wants. So I’d put Blackthorn as Memphi-adjacent.

  “Then there’s the settlement, which is Aurora and us, and we want the settlement to succeed, which means we need the gate.

  “Memphi wants the gate, too.

  “We, as people of the settlement, want all of the trade it represents with all of Daihoon. Not just Aluatha trade, but worldwide trade, which means Okuana and the Settlement of Xerkona, and every other independent nation out there.

  “That’s a lot of competing desires. All of them want something, but we only want one thing: We want our place in the world and our legacies and our powers, and all that stuff. We want security, basically.

  “So that means that outside of Memphi, maybe Blackthorn, and the settlement which is us right now, we need to shut down every other desire out there.

  “That means whatever shittery the Collective was up to; they’re opposed to us. They’re our enemies right now.

  “This also means Aluatha and Okuana are our enemies, too. They’re collaborating against Mark, which means they’re collaborating against us.

  “And then finally, there’s Addavein, which is probably the person that the Collective and all of them are really after, and they’re going through Mark to get him.

  “So here on this side of the influences, there’s us, Memphi, and Blackthorn to the side.

  “And over there is the Collective, the Empires of Daihoon, Addavein, and anyone else I’m not thinking of right now.

  “What we have to do is generally support this sphere,” Eliot said, waving his hands at the air full of the first group, before he moved his hands to the other group, adding, “And hinder this sphere, in general. That means don’t talk to those people. Don’t treat them as friends. Don’t do anything with them that is not public and in the open, because as soon as the doors are closed I’m pretty sure they’re going to dose us all with shavallian, or whatever.”

  At the word ‘shavallian’, Mark was now fully, completely awake.

  Mark looked up at the map of people in his life, like glowing orbs and small pictures, and way outside of his life yet still trying to influence him, like the symbols for Aluatha and Okuana... And he looked at it for a while. He absorbed Eliot’s breakdown.

  Lola was in the Collective sphere, as an ID card that had probably been taken from Citadel of Freyala Resources. Mark imagined he should probably give her a call, but… She was an enemy right now? That didn’t seem right.

  And then there were images of Mark’s uncles, Alexandro and Gabriel, and after Mark got over himself and the idea that it was fucking infuriating that someone would mess with his family to get to him… Yeah. Alexandro was watched over by the Collective, because Alexandro was a True Healer, with the Power of Age Manipulation, and able to make people young again on demand. So yeah. Alexandro was involved in this, even if he didn’t want to be.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Mark needed to call them.

  Lola, too.

  A few other organizations were lumped in with the ‘enemy’ sphere, which Mark thought unfair to them. Orange City had no business being in the enemy sphere… Though they were probably also being pointed unkindly at Mark.

  … Mark didn’t see Crystal Tower, though, and he had a bit of hope at that… But Eliot would probably put them into the enemy camp as soon as he thought about them. They had all just woken up, after all.

  What was important to focus on now was that Blackthorn and Memphi were the closest things they had to allies in this space, because Blackthorn wanted to be an ally to Mark, but Memphi… Well. Memphi could probably be convinced to act against Mark, if the Collective and the Daihoon Empires had sprung this trap better…

  Hmm.

  Everyone was silently looking at the diagram.

  Mark broke the silence, asking, “How close is Memphi to being an enemy, too?”

  Isoko was right there with Mark, saying, “They allowed that trap that almost got us yesterday, so they’re pretty close to being enemies, but not close enough to actually matter. I imagine that they want nothing to actually do with whatever the Collective has against you, and they’d prefer for less actual conflict. That is probably why Mayor Ramirez didn’t care when we escaped.”

  Eliot said, “I agree with Isoko in her diagram of the situation, but I disagree in her conclusion. I think Memphi is rather far from being an enemy. The death penalty doesn’t apply here, and everyone wants us to stick around for a long time, and Memphi would have to live with any decision they make for a very long time. Other nations, like Aluatha and Okuana, would care more about Mark’s specific abilities and they would not care about kaiju killers. They have enough of those already.”

  Isoko paused, and then she said, “That’s a good point, actually. Yes. You’re right. Memphi wouldn’t want to alienate Mark and thus Mark’s uncle, either.”

  Sally asked Mark, “Why is Blackthorn an ally? Like, for real. How can you trust him?”

  Mark said, “He wants adamantium and his going rate is 1 kilo for 1 extensive answer regarding anything at all, and he’s outside of Mage Secrecy, and he knows or can know almost anything. So, I can trust him because we have stuff we are willing to exchange for, and I don’t think he sold me out to anyone, so the deal still stands. But he is an archmage, and I get that, Sally. I really do. But he’s also practically outside of all other systems, and that matters a lot, because he’s not really beholden to others, unless he wants to be.”

  “What about his risk of Falling if he doesn’t do what his demon wants?” Sally asked.

  Mark said, “Well… His Contract requires him to have as much sex and drugs as his demons wants, or something like that. Last I heard, he could be sober for 30 years before he is at risk of Falling. But! Let’s do this.” He reached over and floated his helmet, and Quark, into the air and closer. “What’s the status on Blackthorn’s Fall risk, Quark?”

  Sally had a different problem about asking Quark for answers, as she asked, “And how do you know what Quark finds is correct, anyway? No one knew about Addashield’s shit until all of that horror.”

  … Good point.

  Mark added to Quark, “And how do you know the information you find is correct?”

  Quark slipped a speaker out over the forehead of Mark’s helmet and beeped, then said, “According to the records for Archmage Hall, which are visible through contacting the Unified Temple and getting approval, and which I have been approved for viewing due to COFR speaking for me: Archmage Blackthorn is in good standing with his Contract and requires 31.5 years of sobriety and celibacy before his Contract is voided. If he should be injured or at risk of death before then, then Planty will rescue him to a safe spot of Blackthorn’s prior choosing, whereupon Blackthorn will need to do something fun for her. The possible ‘fun things’ are listed as ‘have an orgasm’, going to a concert of Planty’s request, or ‘pull a mean prank’ on someone. The viable varieties of ‘fun things’ possible are listed in detail in appendix 3 of Blackthorn’s Contract, and is available for further viewing if you should wish.

  “If he should die, then he will not, until he can enact his final good will upon the world, and then he will vanish to a good afterlife ‘if the gods so choose’, and Planty’s vacation on Earth will be over. The viable varieties of ‘enact his good will upon the world’ are listed in detail in appendix 4 of Blackthorn’s Contract, and is available for further viewing if you should wish.

  “The contract made was rather fluid, and made under the influence, but it is rather well made, and all of the usual holes one expects to find in a verbal contract made by an uneducated person are missing.” Quark spoke to the side, “ ‘Uneducated’ in this instance specifically regards demonic Contract education.” Quark continued, “Before his Contracting, which happened shortly after the Reveal, Steve Blackthorn was a lawyer who, in his own words, was ‘checking out from this world of monsters and mayhem to pretend that everything is better than it is, and, with any luck, make it better’. With this desire underpinning all of the Contract made with Planty, it is the decision of the Collective that the Contract made between Planty and Blackthorn is a valid Contract, and Blackthorn is not a Fall risk.

  “There is a lot more to it than that, but that is the condensed understanding of the situation.”

  Mark thought that was a pretty good summation of Blackthorn. Mark said, “So I only knew about half of that. Addashield talked about me checking out his Contract on file, but I never did… How sure are we that Blackthorn’s Contract is his real Contract?”

  “We cannot know for sure,” Quark said. “Not really.”

  Sally grinned. Vindicated.

  Mark said, “Well whatever. I trust him.”

  “Me, too,” Isoko said.

  “I trust him enough,” Eliot said.

  Sally sighed. “Well fucking fine, I guess.”

  Mark smiled, saying, “They were good burritos, right!”

  “I will not sell my soul for a burrito, Mark,” Sally said, though she was trying not to smile.

  As for the map of possible influences on this upcoming shitstorm…

  They were probably forgetting a few players, but Mark was sure they’d figure it out.

  The only real goal right now was to stay out of conflict and get back to the settlement, after all, and they could probably do that without Tartu. In fact, asking Blackthorn about getting back to Daihoon was a good question to spend a kilo of adamantium on. How to travel the worlds was probably something that… one of them could do? Maybe? Mark glanced at Isoko, then Sally, then finally Eliot. Perhaps… Perhaps Eliot was the closest to being able to rip the Veil? Mark didn’t know.

  Mark asked, “Do you think we could go back to Daihoon on our own?”

  Eliot said, “If we got to the gate anchor I could activate it, unless the Mayor removed the tools to do so… which she probably did.”

  “So new tools?” Isoko asked. “What would we need to get to make those?”

  Eliot shrugged, “I’m not sure.”

  Mark got out of bed, saying, “Let’s ask Blackthorn.”

  Sally breathed in, and then nodded, and then she asked, “Armor time? Or normal clothes?”

  Isoko eagerly suggested, “It might be time to consider villain costumes!”

  Mark grinned. “I call black armor! Armor for everyone!”

  “We can’t all do armor,” Isoko said, “But we really should all dress the same. You saw Tartu’s team, right? They looked good.”

  Eliot said, “They did look good. I like the half-cape.”

  Sally hummed… And then she fell into the conversation, eager to leave behind talk-of-archmages, saying, “I have always wanted to try the webweave-only-plus-a-shoulder-pad look. I was thinking of a bunch of spikes for a shoulder pad? Just one shoulder pad, too, like the right one.”

  Isoko said, “I like that, but you want the shoulder pad on the non-dominant arm.”

  Sally nodded a little. “I want to do webweave-only, too.”

  Isoko laughed.

  Eliot winced. “I do not have the body for that.”

  “I’m not ready to do webweave-only, either,” Mark said, perhaps too strongly.

  Isoko and Sally both looked at him, and they both got glints in their eyes.

  Isoko started with, “But you look so good in it!”

  Sally added, “It’s a good look; she’s right.”

  “A very ‘healthy’ look,” Eliot ‘helpfully’ added, loving Mark’s misery right now.